Qin Zhijian, Secretary General of the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA), expressed his regret that Team China will no longer participate at the upcoming tournament which will take place in Doha, Qatar from March 3-13.

“We will not be able to send table tennis players to play outside of China until the Olympic Games due to the ongoing pandemic situation worldwide.

“We have been putting in full effort to make it happen because we truly wish to participate in and show support to the first ever WTT event, but now sadly we need to cancel our participation to WTT Middle East Hub,” said Qin.

Stephen Duckitt, Event Strategy Director, WTT said: “Team China’s withdrawal from the Middle East Hub is disappointing but under the circumstances the CTTA have outlined. Despite the continuing challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are ready to deliver the first official WTT events in Doha and we will continue to work closely with the Qatar Table Tennis Association and local authorities to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”